Home Forums Ask Billy Great To See You’re Back

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #9317
    Chris Hludzik
    Participant

    Hi Billy,
    I’m Chris Hludzik. Not sure you’d remember me, but I’m the guy who would send you the long inquiries to the “Ask Billy” section of the old “Shake” site, to which you’d reply, “So, your usual short note, then”. When I got an email this morning from your webmaster telling me about the new site, I was ecstatic! I just spent the majority of the day reading every page of the site, and listening to a number of the great recordings you included as well as looking at all the cool pics, itineraries, etc. This is a treasure trove for any Naz/Billy/SAHB fan. There’s stuff here even I’VE never heard, and after tracking down as much unreleased SAHB and Naz stuff as I could over the past 20-some years, I thought I had just about everything.

    Anyways, just wanted to say thanks for all this great content, AND especially for how open you were in the story of your life and career, and all the various characters throughout. A lot of it was very eye opening, some of it very sad, all of it amazing. There were better tales recounted here than in many rock books I’ve read in recent years. Being a musician and having worked in a studio myself I can understand a lot of this better than most people might be able to, which is probably why I found it so fascinating, but even people with only a remote understanding of music or “the business” should at least be able to get somewhat of a feeling of what it must have been like.

    Thank you and Barry for putting this great site together. This is an invaluable resource for fans such as myself, and ESPECIALLY for anyone wanting to know about the pitfalls of “the business” by someone who’s been there.

    Hope all is well with you and yours.

    Regards,
    Chris Hludzik

    #9319
    billyboy1
    Moderator

    So Chris, your usual short note then? Good to hear from you buddy. Glad you like the site, Barry put a lot of work into it and encouraged me to be open and honest even if it might ruffle a few feathers. Hopefully we got the balance right cos the idea was to keep it informative, but always with some good old self-depreciating humour. As for the content, we’ll be adding more rare shit over the next few months and years so keep checking The Vault and hopefully you’ll add to your collection too. Looking forward to continuing where we left off Chris. Thanks for the encouraging words and keep safe through this terrible time.
    Cheers, Billy

    #9320
    Chris Hludzik
    Participant

    Haha Thanks a lot Billy, great to hear from you as well, and I also hope you and yours are doing alright during these strange times. Glad to hear more stuff will be added, I’m looking forward to it. And yes, I think you guys have struck a really good balance between the serious and humorous sides of the business.

    Regards,
    Chris.

    #9323
    alex
    Participant

    a cool site , billy , wow , great job , well done !
    wish you all the best , alex from austria

    #9328
    billyboy1
    Moderator

    Thanks Alex. Stay safe friend, all the best from Scotland.
    And you too Chris, keep sending those short notes…

    #9413
    Fatman Doug
    Participant

    Just spent a good couple of hours reading through the website, really good content, in fact it’s the first time I’ve spent more than one hour on any website since visiting Xhamsters mature lesbians. Anyway, I came across this site by accident (as opposed to the aforementioned Xhamster mature lesbians) and it’s great you’ve got an online presence again, as I do remember the old Shake site. I even bought the CD.

    I was shocked to see you described in Nazareth 9 as ‘a two-faced thieving weegie c*nt’ and that must be a dreadful horrible slur, as I believe Kirkintilloch isn’t actually in Glasgow, so get them telt.

    I first saw you in the band at the Glasgow SECC Quo show, I think you were on in the early afternoon, bookending a Radio Clyde type roadshow before Quo sauntered on later. Knew very little about Naz then, but had listened to most of their available stuff (albums from Sound Elixir onwards were still not available in the UK at the time) by the time the acoustic shows came round and I saw three of them, at Turriff Rock Mecca (a friendly crowd, though wearing a sheepskin coat may have had something to do with that), Edinburgh Venue (when Pete got booed by the guy standing next to me for saying Zal Cleminson was a bastard), and Hamilton Blazers (nearest venue to my house). Great shows. I was supposed to go to a fourth, at the Glasgow Arena in Oswald Street, but the manager said ‘Nazareth couldn’t be arsed turning up’ (I should have been suspicious as I was the only one waiting in the queue) so I headed along to Anderston Bus Station to chat with some remarkably under-dressed women for December. The Arena incidentally is where Manny has played a few months earlier and there was an advert in the Evening Tims publicising his concert, the day after it had actually taken place.

    Well Manny, I mean Billy, I guess you’ll be asked loads of questions in this section, from your favourite shampoo, your thoughts on SPFL reconstruction, your favourite Anita Dobson record or which one of the Nolan Sisters would you most like to bang, but mine is this. Excluding Championi, what is the best song you’ve ever released, and excluding Eastenders, what is the worst?

    Cheers
    Fatman Doug

    #9419
    billyboy1
    Moderator

    Ha! Lots of fun memories there Doug, thanks for sharing, I think. As for your in depth questions, the best song I released (apart From Championi) would have to be the B side of Championi and the worst must therefore have been the B side of Eastenders. Oh, and I think you’ll find I actually played a starring role in thon Lesbian Hamster video you so enjoyed. Shame they all got burst tho…

    #9421
    Fatman Doug
    Participant

    Cheers Billy, yep I guessed you were in that video. I remember wondering how a man could stoop so low, then I realised you probably had been exercising your calf muscles properly. Anyhoo, thanks for the detailed, and I believe, truthful answers to my piercing questions. I’ll think of some other questions at a later date (make it much later – webmaster) but just a quick few observations and a genuine quick story.

    I got your book at the Solid Rock that night in 2011, thanks for signing it. I remember being chuffed at meeting someone famous that night I really admired. That occurred in Central Station later that night when I had a pish whilst standing next to Glen Michael.

    Manny, a Prod, one of Luther’s Legions? I’d never have believed it, just shows you can’t judge a book by it’s moostache, or follow a stereotype.

    Clarkston not being hard. Didn’t the much-mentioned Eddie Tobin get shot there? I’ve a vague memory of that happening.

    You should definitely consider taking the guitar and get back to performing in Glasgow pubs. Robert and May Miller are still doing it, and they’ve been going since about 1870.

    And the true story – in the mid-90s, there was a small second-hand vinyl store in Lanark at the old Vogue Cinema, and I went in a wander, to discover they had two copies of Snaz, one priced £3.50 and one £4.50. Both seemed in decent condition, slightly dog-eared but not bad. However, I discovered the difference, the £3.50 one was signed by Dan, Pete, Darrell and Manny and the £4.50 copy wasn’t. Still trying to figure that one out.

    Cheers
    Fatman Doug

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.